(WXYZ) — Michigan will draw the first winner of the MI Shot to Win Sweepstakes on Wednesday, nearly two weeks after the state announced the COVID-19 vaccine lottery.
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The aim of the lottery is to get the state to 70% vaccinated as rates were declining, but despite the announcement, vaccination rates have continued to drop.
When it was announced on July 1, Michigan's vaccination rate was at 61.8% with just over 5 million people vaccinated. Since that time, the vaccination rate has increased to 62.4% (5,056,145) as of July 13.
In the first 12 days after the announcement, Michigan added 45,377 first doses of a COVID-19 vaccine. That averages out to 3,781 shots per day to start July.
During the month of June, Michigan added 218,183 first doses, which averages out to just under 7,273 shots per day, nearly two times as many as the beginning of July.
Michigan was the latest among several other states who announced some sort of vaccine incentive.
In Ohio, there was a large boost in the first week after the announcement, but that fell quickly. According to the Associated Press, there was a 43% increase in vaccination rates week-to-week after the announcement, but vaccinations fell the following week
“Clearly, the impact went down after that second week,” Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said in June, according to the AP.
In New Mexico, the state also saw just a minimal increase in vaccination rates after announcing sweepstakes with millions of dollars in prizes.
Michigan's plan is to give away $5 million and nearly $500,000 in college scholarships. There will be a $1 million drawing, a $2 million drawing, $50,000 daily drawings and nine scholarship drawings for $55,000.
Within the first six days after the announcement, the state said more than 1 million Michiganders signed up for the vaccine lottery. As of July 9, nearly 1.5 million people had signed up for the lottery.
The first winners will be drawn Wednesday at 2 p.m.
